Family Practitioner - Duty Family Support
1 day ago
Sutton Coldfield
The Family Practitioner – Family Support will undertake duty work in children’s centres (9am–5pm), focusing on safeguarding, responding to walk-in enquiries, referring families to services, and supporting group work. The role does not involve holding a caseload or conducting early help assessments, but the practitioner may support colleagues who do. The practitioner will maintain accurate records, provide information and guidance, and support the delivery of group interventions and drop-in sessions. \n Qualifications: \n\n • GCSE Maths and English at Grade C or above (Essential)\n, • NVQ 3 Health & Social Care, Working with Parents, or equivalent (Essential)\n\n Experience: \n\n • Relevant experience delivering family support interventions for families with children from pre-birth to five years old\n, • Experience recording and report-writing in a family support context\n, • Experience working in partnership with professionals in relevant agencies\n, • Experience working with parents and families, understanding and responding to their needs to improve outcomes for children\n, • Experience identifying safeguarding issues in families and making referrals as appropriate\n, • Experience delivering services in a Children’s Centre, Community, or Health-related setting\n, • Experience providing individual support to families with under 5s affected by issues such as disability, domestic abuse, welfare rights, parenting, safeguarding, substance misuse, and mental health\n, • Experience supporting home visits and facilitating group sessions\n\n Skills: \n\n • Skilled in observing family functioning and producing needs assessments leading to interventions\n, • Skilled in using recording systems and learning electronic recording\n, • Excellent communication skills with families in community settings\n, • Ability to communicate and work in partnership with families\n, • Skilled in reflective practice\n, • Ability to review, analyse, and evaluate own and team practice\n, • Skill in developing and using a range of 1-to-1 and group approaches to engage families, especially those hard to engage\n\n Knowledge: \n\n • Knowledge of issues facing families in areas of disadvantage and how family support interventions can improve outcomes\n, • Working knowledge and understanding of Safeguarding and Child Protection Procedures\n, • Up to date with latest good practice and evidence-based models\n\n \n Additional Requirements: \n\n • Regular travel within the geographical area (Essential)\n, • Flexible approach to hours due to possible travel and supporting colleagues/service users\n, • Car driver with access to a car for work purposes (Desirable)\n\n Personal Qualities: \n\n • Approachable, committed, confident, dedicated, diplomatic, empathetic, good listener, persistent, personable, quality-driven, resilient, self-motivated, team player\n\n Responsibilities of the Role \n The following responsibilities are included: \n\n • Undertake duty work from 9am–5pm in the children’s centres, including:\n, • Safeguarding and responding to immediate concerns\n, • Dealing with walk-in enquiries from families\n, • Referring families to appropriate services and signposting as needed\n, • Taking and responding to general enquiries\n, • Supporting other Family Support Practitioners on occasional home visits\n, • Supporting and facilitating group work sessions for families\n, • Provide information, advice, and guidance to families on a range of issues (e.g., childcare, child development, safety, nutrition, early education)\n, • Maintain accurate and confidential records of family interactions, services provided, and outcomes achieved\n, • Ensure effective child and parent engagement in decision-making\n, • Work flexibly and deliver services as directed within the children’s centre\n, • Attend multi-agency meetings as required and provide reports\n, • Maintain effective links with internal and external support services, staying up to date with available resources\n, • Promote home safety, oral health, weaning, and nutrition through workshops or information sessions\n, • Support drop-in sessions enabling families to access support\n\n The following responsibilities are NOT included: \n\n • Case holding (but may support case holders)\n, • Undertaking early help assessments\n\n